Banno
Banno is a Japanese personal name written 伴野; another possible reading of the same characters is "Tomono". All the following company names are written in kanji characters in the original sources, and any of them might actually read "Tomono" instead of "Banno". It is not known if there is a relationship between the four companies listed below in chronological order of apparition. Banno Shōten Banno Shōten (伴野商店) was a sales company which advertised Goerz cameras in 1922. Banno Bunzaburō Shōten Banno Bunzaburō Shōten (伴野文三郎商店) was a sales company in the early 1930s, which sold the Pathé Baby movie camera. Banno Bōeki Banno Bōeki K.K. (伴野貿易株式会社) was a Japanese trading company, with addresses in Tokyo (Ginza), Osaka, Dalian and Shenyang (the latter two in China). Its address in Tokyo from 1939 to 1944 was Tōkyō-shi Kyōbashi-ku Ginza 6–4 (東京市京橋区銀座六ノ四). Source: advertisements reproduced in , pp.58–9, 84 and 88, and column in January 1939, p.190. Its name is translated as "Banno Trading Co." in . , items 3002 and 4018. The company was certainly the owner of the "Alma" brand; in the late 1930s and early 1940s, it distributed Alma still cameras, movie cameras and movie projectors. It also distributed various other cameras in the same period. Distributed cameras: * Alma Baby Ref, c.1942–3 * Alma Four (made by Miyoshi Kōgaku), c.1939–43 * Auto Semi First (made by Kuribayashi), c.1943–4 Advertisements in October 1943 and May 1944, reproduced in , p.88. * First Reflex (made by Kuribayashi), c.1943–4 * Peacock II (made by Tōyō Kōki), c.1939 Advertisement reproduced in , p.84. Other products: * Alma movie camera (9.5mm), c.1939–40 Advertisement in January 1939, p.A19. Advertisements in April 1940, p.A13, and May 1940, p.A13. * Alma and Alma B movie projectors (9.5mm and 16mm), c.1936–41 Advertisement in December 1936, p.A59. Alma 9.5mm movie projectors are briefly mentioned in the advertisement in April 1941, before p.465. * Banzaikin, c.1944 Advertisement on p.11 of , February 15, 1944, reproduced on p.75 of Hyaku-gō goto jūkai no kiroku. * projection screens Advertisement in April 1941, before p.465. Banno Toyoji Shōten Banno Toyoji Shōten (伴野豊治商店) was a camera shop in the early 1940s. Its name appears in the official price list dated November 1941 about the Semi Elka camera. , type 3, sections 3A and 4A. The company perhaps also made or sold the Elka shutter, and the TB logo found on some of these might correspond to Toyoji Banno. The company was advertising the Fuji Kōgaku Lyra cameras in February 1944. Advertisement on the back cover of , February 15, 1944, reproduced on p.78 of Hyaku-gō goto jūkai no kiroku. The address at the time was Nihonbashi-ku Dōri 2–2 in Tokyo (東京都日本橋区通二ノ二). Notes Bibliography Original documents * . Advertisements by Banno Shōten in February and April 1922, no page number. * . Advertisement by Banno Bunzaburō Shōten in June 1932, p.A33. * . Advertisements by Banno Bōeki: ** December 1936, p.A59; ** January 1939, p.A19; ** April 1940, p.A13; ** May 1940, p.A13; ** April 1941, before p.465. * . "Atarashii kikai to zairyō" (新しい機械と材料, New equipment and materials), January 1939, pp.189–91. (Briefly mentions Banno Bōeki as the distributor of a flexible pod.) * Type 3, sections 6A and 7A. * Advertisement by Banno Bōeki on p.75, corresponding to p.11 of the February 15, 1944 issue, and advertisement by Banno Toyoji Shōten on p.78, corresponding to the back cover of the same issue. Recent sources * * Category: Japanese distributors